Blu-Ray disc movie review of Eagle Eye
January 1, 2009
Shia Labeouf, D.J. Caruso, and Steven Spielberg once again team up to bring a rather entertaining movie. The three collaborated on Disturbia with D.J. Caruso directing and Steven Spielberg producing. Being a big Spielberg fan, I almost always enjoy any film directed or produced by Spielberg. Disturbia was fairly decent thriller on its own. Eagle eye, while fun, is not something you'd take seriously. It's aimed at summer popcorn movie crowd and it delivers as an entertaining flick.
The film opens with Jerry, played by Shia Labeouf, finding large sum of money deposited into account. Jerry is a smart slacker who goes from job to job and lives on pay check by pay check. He withdraws some and heads home. There, he finds all kinds of weapons, bomb ingredient and generally all the things a terrorist might possess. He immediately receives a phone call warning him about impending FBI arrival. He is taken into custody. There he gets another call from this stranger instructing him on how to escape. Meanwhile, Rahcel Holloman receives a phone call from same woman instructing her to do pick up Jerry or there would be harm done to her son. This is the start of series of instruction they must follow in order to avoid death.
On the surface it seems like a simple terrorist plot. But, it's little more complicated than terrorist plot. The plot, is not that important as most of the viewers will figure out what's going on. It's the fun ride to the destination that makes this film entertaining. Just remember that it is a fiction and not something you should scrutinize.
The overall acting is what you would expect from Shia Labeouf and Michelle Monaghan. Shia makes a perfect smart aleck slacker and Rachel plays perfect protective mother. Michael Chiklis makes an excellent appearance as the Defense Secretary. One problem I had was taking Shia Labeouf as someone older than 18 year old. I think watching him in his teenage roles have imprinted a certain stereotype for me. Other than that, acting was solid all around.
In the end, it is an enjoyable film if you have your logic circuit turned off. It's a fun ride from start to finish with some humor in between.
What do you think about this movie? Please leave your thoughts below.
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Note Worthy
With eye popping stunts, I found that this film was very good from beginning to end. It’s just the main actor needs to learn a bit more to hold keep people interested. He just seems to act as if doesn’t really care about the character. But other wise, I do recommend the film.
Boooo….ring
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is one of those guys who likes no one, and whom no one likes—especially his Dad. After his twin brother is killed in a freak car accident, everything goes haywire. Always broke, Shaw grows no more likable when he finds $700,000 in his bank account—and a huge selection of ammunition, weapons, chemicals and so on in his flea bag one-room rental.
With the FBI on his tail, Shaw starts getting cell phone calls and flashing digital sign messages (along highways and in bus stations) instructing him to steal cars, disguise himself and swipe a small steal brief case presumably containing top secret digital weapons. Along this totally unbelievable route, Shaw is forced by powers unknown to work with Rachel Hollomon (Michelle Monaghan), a single mom whose son is threatened with death if she does not do as the identical unidentified female cell phone voice commands.
Supposedly, Big Brother can watch every last move a person makes, so much so, that their lives are an open book, from the time they began to walk and picked a favorite color, until the present day. This gives a huge government computer, citing the U.S. Constitution, enough power to commandeer hundreds if not thousands of people nationwide to do its dirty work to overthrow the government, which the computer believes has abused “We the people.”
The entire plot, like the chain of command characters, is utterly absurd. The film is poorly acted. And the film is just plain — boring. Skip it.
Frenetic action with themes of Matrix/iRobot/Minority Report
From the very beginning of the movie the pace is set, and it doesn’t stop. In fact, the two slow parts of the movie are the first minute and the last minute – everything in between is non-stop action that keeps your attention during this just under 2 hour movie.
Avid movie watchers will see themes from other movies embedded in Eagle Eye – a story that revolves around a military artificial intelligence that monitors pretty much EVERYTHING. From mobile phones to surveillance cameras to electrical and utility grids, the AI monitors the United States and reports back on possible threats to the security of the country. Typically these threats are reported to the Department of Defence, but the AI is empowered to act upon them in any way necessary.
The AI has a similar feel to Flight of the Navigator – an “all-seeing-eye” that can roam around the room looking into globes that provide information and communication. There are also water elements in the AI room that are reminiscent of Minority Report, and “all powerful” elements like War Games.
The characters are thrown into the world of terrorism, government conspiracy, and are pitted against the FBI and the Department of Defense as a strange voice on their phones directs their every move (against their will). What will they do to not only save the son of the female lead, but as we discover, save the entire power structure of the United States from a supposed terrorist threat?
This movie features INTENSE car chases – with all the associated explosions and collateral damage. Most of these effects are NON-digital as you learn in the behind the scenes featurettes on the DVD. This adds realism and excitement to the movie. There is also a very intense chase scene in the baggage handling facility of an airport that will leave the viewer thinking they are on a wild roller coaster.
I found myself on the edge of my seat during much of the movie – even with all those memories of past movies with similar AI themes. This one makes it fresh by wrapping a new set of action sequences and character development around the AI in a new and exciting way.
You’ll also want to watch the gag reel on the dvd for an absolutely hysterical sequence between Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson – not to be missed.
Genuine acting, exciting action sequences, and tasteful special effects give this movie four full stars from me. The only reason I did not give it five full stars is due to lack of originality in the AI concept.
“Disobey and you die.”
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is an ordinary young man working at a copy center when he suddenly finds himself on the run from the FBI. A woman’s voice on the phone has him racing all over the place and facing death at every turn. Running with him is a young mother (Michelle Monaghan) whose son will be killed if she and Jerry don’t do what they’re told. They make their way to Washington, D.C. and finally find out who is controlling their every move.
I’ve enjoyed Shia LaBeouf before and was expecting another movie showcasing his boyish charm. Sadly, this film didn’t give him a chance to really shine; it’s just one frantic, chaotic, mad dash from place to place with a bunch of explosions and implausible escapes from death. The intensity level is always at 99% which leaves no time to really get to know LaBeouf’s character. He’s in a constant state of fear and we don’t know why until the very end. The voice on the phone telling Jerry what to do and where to go has the ability to control any and all machines and systems he comes in contact with; this starts out pretty preposterous and goes all the way to “Huh?!”
None of the incredible, non-stop action scenes could really happen, but if you love explosions and don’t need a story that makes sense, this is the movie for you.
NO THRILLS HERE!!!
This is the 2nd worst movie I saw this year. Body Of Lies was even worse.
Hang your cell phone up on this one.
LIKE ORDERING A VEGETARIAN SUBWAY
I was very entertained by the first forty minutes but when my friend told me it’s a great film, I had my doubts, I waited for the film to settle down and then give it a rethink. One hour into the film, I was hoping it wouldn’t stretch too long. Not because I was sleepy but because I realized what a poor script it is. And just when I started to think this Shia guy isn’t as bad as I’ve always thought he was, I realized he is what is wrong with this film. The film is not clever at all. There are many scenes that last for less than one second, almost all are action filled. In the second half, it is a jumble of storylines, twists, concerned eyes, speed and self loveth logic. The actress was horried and so was pretty much everyone invovled in the plot. I don’t understand what is wrong with three of my friends who loved this film. The lowest rating they gave it was an 8/10 and they almost looked hurt when I told them what I thought.
Shia is not a good actor. He should go back and get a degree or two and try to save our economy. The actress has bad skin and made it difficult for me to concentrate on her dialogues. The film never really settles down and when it does it looks campy, cheesy and torturous. Believe me, by no strength of imagination am I the sort of person who considers his time of prime importance, but this film gave me quite a moodswing.
I know it will be a hit and I’m happy the producers will get there money worth. I realize I like the other two films by the actor more. I think it was a waste of good resources. Wanted was better and tolerable.
This is the sort of film that will make it big on movie rentals but it’s just so badly directed.
I loved Billy Bob Thorton in The Man Who Wasn’t There but I must say the man gets really silly roles and aside from the Coen brothers collaboration, he hasn’t done one single worthy film.
I rest my case, the Entourage episode in the morning was today’s highlight.
bye.
Subliminal message
“Eagle Eye” doesn’t deserve the thrashing it got at the critics’ hands, although at first sight, it certainly seems to. On the one hand, it’s more like “2001″’s HAL gone postal on a national scale; and on the other, ARIIA is the voice of We, The People, as she stated in the story. In “2001″, HAL did what he did based on what he knew and what he thought was best for the mission. Here, ARIIA also takes over for the purpose of protecting the Constitution and actually obeying it: when the executive branch endangers the nation, it becomes nil and void. The only problem is ARIIA took the violent route and became the villain through its destructiveness. Instead, she should have used her power to broadcast the opening scene of the story on the nation’s TV screens everywhere and have patriots stand up to the executive peacefully. That would have been a true tour de force on the part of the movie makers.
EAGLE EYE (BLU RAY)
FAST PACE N LOADS OF ACTION. PICTURE QUALITY IS SHARP N DOLBY TRUE HD
AUDIO IS GOOD. DIALOGUE A LITTLE SOFT BUT IS FINE.
WORTH BUYING.
Wamp Wamp….
Terrible movie, saw it in theatres. Shi laBeof was good in Disturbia, but that doesn’t mean he should play the exact same charecter the rest of his life…Plot is boring and extremely predictable, do not waste your time…
Pleased
The movie is great and I received it expeditiously. I am pleased with my purchase.
Boy, Have We Seen This Movie Before
Lots of spoilers here, but then, isn’t this movie just a pastiche of a hundred others?
Billy Bob channels Tommy Lee after Harrison Ford. Shia a scruffier Matt. When computers go bad, but this time with a creepy female voice. And don’t forget, speaking of bad, The Patriot Act. Hundreds of Chicago police cars in spectacular pileups. Drones destroy with incredible accuracy. We’re all being watched, we’re all being monitored and it’s all a seamless net of spying. Overachieving brother, slacker brother just waiting for his moment. And, of course, father finally recognizes slacker gold.
How does it all end? The usual way, cleaning the couch of popcorn kernels still in the grasp of a pleasant mindless buzz.
Superduper
Exciting from the first moment thru the last shots! Non-stop, blood boiling thrills with Shia La Boeuf on his adventures to find out the source of his brother’s death.
I, Robot meets North by Northwest meets Terminator II meets The Man Who Knew Too Much
Eagle Eye is based on a Spielberg concept and executive produced by him. Spielberg is famous for successfully incorporating technical elements from famous films and directors into his own films but never quite developing his characters equal to the masters. Taking a cue from Spielberg, director D.J. Caruso has decided to shoot a film that is virtually all action and has virtually no character development. Take Shia LaBeouf’s character, ‘Jerry Shaw’. LaBeouf’s plays him over the top, constantly angry and fighting with everybody, starting with his father (who he hates), spurning his offer to pay his tuition and return to college at Stanford where he had dropped out two years earlier. There is virtually nothing likable about our protagonist from the beginning! When a secret Department of Defense computer named Aria goes berserk and deposits over $700,000 into Shaw’s bank account and then dumps a cache of terrorists’ weapons in his apartment, leading to his arrest by the FBI, Shaw has to figure out who has set him up. He ends up escaping from the FBI’s clutches with the help of the computer and then being paired with Michelle Monaghan who plays ‘Rachel Holloman’, a divorced single mother.
Jerry and Rachel are ordered about by this computer under pain of death to go to and fro to all kinds of crazy locations, fulfilling the computer’s various commands that don’t seem to have a discernible purpose. The computer stays in contact with our two protagonists by all means of computer connected gadgetry (principally cell phones) but also at times through electronic devices (such as LCD screens at the subway) that are not ostensibly connected to computers. At first Jerry and Rachel are yelling at each other all the time but gradually come to realize that they have been victimized by a common enemy. In addition to surviving numerous car chases (which are edited so poorly, it’s often impossible to know what’s going on), they suddenly find the moxie to disarm armored truck guards. Meanwhile, they’re being chased by an FBI agent played by an unhealthy looking Billy Bob Thornton who injects no humor, charm or wit into the role. The same goes for Zoe Perez who plays a Department of Defense investigator who eventually discovers why the computer has gone berserk. It seems that the computer has decided to eliminate the President and his underlings after the Military fails to heed its advice to abort a mission to kill a terrorist utilizing a drone somewhere in Afghanistan (or some nearby terrorist haven). The computer was ‘locked’ at the last second by Shaw’s twin brother who mysteriously dies in a car accident at the beginning of the movie. The computer needs Jerry to unlock the command and eventually summons him to her lair.
Eagle Eye borrows heavily from superior films such as I, Robot and Terminator II where the protagonist must disable the computer to keep it from committing its nefarious acts. I can’t remember the exact manner in which Zoe Perez actually disables “Aria” here in Eagle Eye but the computer ‘takedown’ by Will Smith and Arnold Schwarzenegger in their respective films is much more exciting and sophisticated than what is depicted here.
In an awkward tribute to Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, Shia is given the Jimmy Stewart part where he must prevent Rachel’s son from hitting a high note while playing the Star Spangled Banner on his trumpet at the White House. The note will trigger an explosion that will eliminate the US chain of command from the President on down (In “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, Jimmy Stewart must prevent the assassination of a world leader while a symphony orchestra also hits a ‘high note–masking the sound of the assassin’s bullet). In addition to LaBeouf’s one-note performance, my main problem with the film was that I couldn’t understand why such a logical entity as a computer would be so illogical in constructing such a convoluted plot to accomplish its goals. What’s surprising about Eagle Eye is that it actually starts out realistically (the botched terrorist strike actually looks like something that could happen!). I understand that action-adventure films aren’t supposed to be ‘realistic’ but shouldn’t they conform to some kind of internal logical? Unfortunately, logic is almost completely lacking here.
Eagle Eye
Shia LaBeouf did it again. What a great movie! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This is a great teenage movie. I would not recommend this for children because of the violence and the plot might be too hard for a child to understand. Hence, the PG-13 rating!
Eagle Eye [Blu-ray]
My mom said…
My mom told me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything.
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